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Calvin Who/Rose
Rose was the first episode of Calvin Who. It featured the first appearance of Rose Tyler and started the first season, Spinning Through Space. Episode 1:1 BEEP-BEEP. BEEP-BEEP. A hand shot out from underneath the covers and slammed down hard on the alarm clock's Snooze Button. The hand flailed about in the air for a moment, before ripping off the sheets, revealing a teenage girl with messy blonde hair. She groaned for a moment, still sleepy, before tumbling out of bed. The room was pink, various shades of it mixed with the slightest bit of purple. She pulled on some clothes- a simple pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. Quickly and efficiently making her bed, she grabbed a pair of shoes off the rack from the corner of the room, and walked out of the room, flicking off the light as she went. A middle-aged woman, still in her pajamas, bustled about the kitchen, making breakfast. She glanced up as the girl stepped into the room, and sat down in a chair. "Morning, Rose," she told her, and served her some toast. Rose grabbed it and hungrily chowed down. "G'morning, Mum." She slipped on a jacket, and exited the house. It sat on a slight rise, just above the other houses in the neighbourhood. The sign in front of the arrangement of houses and apartments read, in big, bold letters 'POWELL ESTATE'. Rose strolled down to the bus stop, and casually waited for a bus to arrive. A few stragglers were seated around the bus stop, but she ignored them, fixated on her mobile phone. A text had just arrived from her friend, and she was focused on replying to her. A bus pulled up, and Rose climbed on, and sat down in a seat, still reading her social media updates. The bus chugged along the road, stopping only to pick up the customary early-morning workers. Rose glanced out the grimy bus window, noting her reflection. She could use a trip to the hair salon, the dye was wearing off, and the brown was showing through. She exited the bus as it pulled up at Henrick's. She pushed open the glass double doors, and began her job. The day passed, as it usually does. Rose showed the customers at the store to the areas that they wanted. She collected cash at the register, and filed reports. At lunchtime, she met up with her boyfriend, Mickey, in the square and they ate together, teasing each other as they did. As the day wound to a close, an announcement came over the Tannoy. "This is a customer announcement. The store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you." Rose headed towards the exit, and a guard shook a plastic bag at her. She noticed, and took it, telling the guard that she'd deliver it to the Chief Electrician right then. She dashed across to the lift and took it to the basement. It was dark and gloomy down there, and Rose was more than a little spooked. She crept along the darkly illuminated hallway, calling softly. "Wilson? Wilson, I've got the lottery money!" There was a noise behind her, and she spun around. There was nothing there. "Wilson! Where are you? This isn't funny! Wilson?" She rapped for a moment on his office door. There was no reply, but a crash echoed from one of the storerooms. She headed directly for it. "Wilson? It's Rose." She carefully opened the storeroom door, and flicked on the lights. There was absolutely no one in there. Shop dummies stood in various states of dress, and boxes were strewn across the room. Wire hangers hung loosely on racks. "Hello?" she called, and made her way across the storeroom, her gaze searching the area. Still, no one. "Is anyone down here?" There was a creak, and she glanced in the direction of it. A shop dummy had been moved. But still, no sign of human life. And that was when the dummies began to move. She backed away slowly, not exactly afraid. It was probably a student prank, after all. But they continued for her, moving slightly unsteadily. Plastic dummies were approaching from all directions. "Yeah, this is really funny," she informed them sarcastically. "Can you please stop this now?" The dummies didn't listen, and she was now stuck between a coat rack and the wall. A narrow water pipe pressed at her head. The dummies were surrounding her, and she began to feel slightly afraid. "Who are you?" And then a tiny hand grabbed hers. She looked down, and saw a small boy with spiky blonde hair that seemed to defy gravity, staring at her with piercing blue eyes. He was clutching a stuffed tiger with one hand. "Run!" he told her, and the water pipe exploded. He gripped her arm tightly, and they were off. He tore across the room with inhuman speed, practically dragging her behind him. They reached the lift, and dashed inside. He jabbed the 'Close' button frantically, but the plastic shop dummies were advancing. "Get them, Hobbes!" he yelled at the tiger. Rose couldn't have been entirely sure what happened, but the plastic dummies were suddenly MOVING BACK from the stuffed tiger, which had inexplicably moved across the lift, and then the doors were closing, and a plastic arm lay on the ground next to them. "What?" Rose managed weakly. The boy turned towards her. "Oh, I almost forgot." He hit her on the head with a rubber hammer. Rose stumbled back, shocked. "What was that-!" She then noticed a tiger standing on two legs, leaning against the side of the lift, and quickly changed tack. "What are you?" "A tiger," the tiger replied calmly. "Hello. I'm Hobbes." "A...tiger..." Rose was having trouble getting her mind around this. "What, you were just faced with homicidal shop models, and you're surprised by a talking tiger?" Rose blinked. "They aren't homicidal, it was just a student prank... wasn't it?" She wasn't entirely sure. What else could it be, though? The boy gave a superior snort, and tossed her the plastic arm from the floor. "Does this feel like a prank to you?" She ran her hands over it. "What in the-" The lift dinged, and shuddered to a halt. Rose stumbled out of the lift, still staring in shock at the boy and his tiger. He gave her a little shove towards the exit at the back, and she immediately started walking. "But what are you doing here?" she asked them. "Trying to get rid of them, of course," Hobbes told her. He held up an object that looked vaguely like a remote control, but with a lot more buttons. "The controller is around here somewhere, and we're here to stop the Earth being destroyed." He glanced over at the boy. "This is the, what?" "Seventy-th time," he completed. He opened the exit door, and gestured with his hand out the door. "What was your name?" "Rose," Rose told him. "Rose Tyler." He gave her a small wave. "Nice to meet you, Rose Tyler. I'm Calvin." He grabbed the remote control from Hobbes with a swift movement, and held it up, looking slightly deranged. "Run for your life!" With that, he slammed the exit door, leaving Rose and Hobbes staring at the door. "You'd better run," advised Hobbes. "When he says something like that, it usually means one of three things; one, there's an immense danger and he's being all noble and sacrificial; two, he's about to go work on a birthday surprise for someone and doesn't want us to see, or three, he's about to blow something up. Since two is a bit unlikely, we really should move." "Oh!" Rose exclaimed, and tucked the plastic hand into her belt. "Let's move, then." They dashed out into the darkened street, Rose glancing quickly behind her. The looming figure of the Henrick's building was still standing. Nothing notable had happened. They had reached two blocks over when the explosion occurred. It was spectacular, really. Plumes of red-white flame spurted out of the windows, seemingly in slow motion. The roof collapsed into shreds, the shrapnel flying every which way. "That's my cue, then," decided Hobbes, brushing off dust from his fur. He extended a paw to Rose, who shook it tentatively. "It was nice to meet you, Rose. We might see you later, then?" He winked at her, and strode off into the darkness. Did a stuffed tiger just flirt with me? she wondered. The next day, Rose was lying on the couch, watching the news. They were displaying the results of Calvin meeting an explosives detonator. Her mother was on the phone with a friend. "-I know. It's on the telly. It's everywhere. She's lucky to be alive. Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter." Rose's boyfriend, Mickey, walked in the door. He was a dark skinned, close-shaven man, and greeted Rose's mum with a wide smile and a hug. "Hi, Jackie! Just came in to say hello to Rose." He turned to the aforementioned girl, who was staring absently at the television screen. "Why didn't you call? You could have been dead!" Rose waved a hand dismissively. "It's fine! I'm alive, don't make a fuss." "What was it, though? Did you see what caused it." Rose closed her eyes for a moment. "No. I was outside the shop. I didn't see anything." They continued with the idle small talk for a moment, before kissing. Mickey made for the door. His gaze fell on the plastic dummy arm, and he swooped it up, pretending it was strangling him. Rose laughed in slight amusement, and he dropped it, laughing also. "Bye, babe. See you later." And he left. The day after that, Rose's alarm went off again. She hopped out of bed, intending to go to work, but then remembered. "Oh. It's blown up." She sighed, and instead pulled on a fluffy pink bath robe, and strolled casually into the kitchen. Her mum brandished a phone at her. "Rose, you should sue for trauma! You need some money for a job, Shirleen knows a person…" "Not now, mum," Rose told her. She walked into the hallway, intending to pick up the newspaper from where it had been thrown carelessly yesterday, but paused when she heard a rattling noise coming from outside the door. She listened intently. Yes, there was definitely someone (or something) there. The cat flap, long forgotten because of the fact there were no cats in the Tyler household, was jittering slightly. A puff of smoke came from where a screw was, and when it dissipated, the screw was gone. This was repeated several times, and the cat flap fell to the floor with a loud clatter. Rose snatched it up, and bent down to look through the gap in the door. An unmistakable head with spiky blonde hair peered back at her. She yelped, and staggered backwards a few steps, before yanking open the door and glaring at Calvin, who stood there, clutching a water gun. "What are you doing here?" he demanded. "I live here!" Rose shot back. "Well, what did you go and do that for?" "Because I do. I'm only at home because someone blew up my job," she said accusingly, pointing a finger at him. Hobbes stepped up next to him, and waved at Rose, before turning to Calvin. "We must have got the wrong signal. Unless she's plastic...?" Calvin tapped Rose on the forehead, and shook his head. "Nope. She's a complete bonehead. Well, we must be off." He turned to leave, but Rose gripped him firmly by the arm and dragged him inside. "No. Not until you tell me what's going on here." Calvin protested weakly, but the door shut with a loud bang. Hobbes slipped through the cat flap, and followed them. "Who is it?" Jackie called from her room. "Boy scout, selling cookies," Rose called back, without missing a beat. "He wanted a drink of water." "Boy scout?" Calvin mouthed, and waved quickly at Jackie while passing her room. She blinked. "Oh, aren't you just the cutest little thing!" she cooed. "Yes, I am," Calvin responded, looking quite pleased. "I just want to cuddle you to death!" "...no." Calvin exited stage left, and Hobbes followed, wolf whistling at Jackie, and blowing her a kiss. In the kitchen, Rose poured two cups of milk, and a bowl of it for Hobbes, and pushed it at them. Hobbes grinned in appreciation, and began lapping it up. "We should go to the police. Seriously. All of us." Calvin paid her no heed, flipping through magazines and examining things on the shelves. "They said on the news that they found a body." Hobbes spotted a pack of cards and unsuccessfully attempted to shuffle them. The cards went flying. There was a scuffle behind them, and he turned around. "Rose," Hobbes queried. "Do you have any cats?" "Apart from you? No." She came in from the other room, just as the plastic arm from the other day launched itself up at Calvin's face. He gargled for a moment, before attempting to wrestle it off. Hobbes noticed, and grabbed the arm as well. They weren't having much luck, and it was slowly attempting to strangle him. Rose was oblivious. "I told Mickey to chuck that out. You're all the same. Give a man a plastic hand. Anyway, I don't even know your name. Calvin, what was it?" Hobbes finally succeeded in prising it off Calvin's neck, and it flew towards Rose. It attached itself to her face, and she screamed. Calvin grabbed his water gun, and fired it at the arm. Instead of spurting out water, it somehow emitted a flash of blue light. The plastic appendage fell to the floor, motionless. Hobbes picked it up, laughing slightly. "There, you see? 'Armless." Calvin snatched it up off him. "Oh yeah?" There was a resounding smack as plastic hit fur. "You can't just go swanning off like this!" Rose yelled as the boy and the tiger descended the stairwell on the side of the complex. Calvin shrugged carelessly. "Yes, we can. See, this is us. Swanning off. See ya." "But that arm was moving! It tried to kill me!" "Wow, this girl is a genius," he told Hobbes. "You can't walk away! That's not fair! You've got to tell me what's going on!" she protested. "No, we don't." They were outside the block of flats, now, Rose hurrying to catch up to the demented adrenaline of a six-year-old boy and a tiger. "All right, then. I'll go to the police." she challenged. "I'll tell everyone. You said, if I did that, I'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell me, or I'll start talking." Hobbes laughed. "Is that supposed to sound impressive." "Uh, yeah." "It doesn't work." "Who are you!" she threw up her hands in exasperation. "We're Calvin and Hobbes." "Yeah, but Calvin what? Don't you have a last name?" "Well, I did, but Hobbes ate it." "Wait, WHAT?" "So, Calvin, then." "Hello!" he waved the plastic arm at her. "Come on, then. You can tell me. I've seen enough. Are you, like, some division of the X-Files?" "No way," Hobbes scoffed. "We're just travellers. We tend to get caught up in these sorts of things, though." "Don't tell her anything," Calvin warned the tiger. "She's a SLIMY GIRL, remember?" "I'm not slimy," Rose protested. "But what have I done wrong? How comes those plastic things keep coming after me?" "They weren't coming after you, they were coming after us. You were an accident. It was after us not you. Last night, in the shop, we were there, you blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing. This morning, we were tracking it down, it was tracking us down. The only reason it fixed on you is 'cos you've met us." "So, the world revolves around you two." "Sort of, yeah," Hobbes replied. "Your egos are way too big." "Sort of, yeah." They were in the middle of a park now. All three of them stopped, facing each other. "Tell me what's happening." Calvin sighed, and relented. "It's living plastic. The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead. It's controlling it through though control. We're trying to stop the thing from overthrowing the human race and destroying you all." "I'm supposed to believe that." "Sort of, yeah," Hobbes told her. "Really though, Calvin. Who are you? Why is there a talking tiger here?" "Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving?" he told her. "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can't feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can't feel it. My timeline is different to yours. I've been six for hundreds of years, and the only way I've managed to stay sane is because I've had my best friend here with me. We save the world together. Me and Hobbes." He stepped next to his friend. "We're falling through space, him and me, clinging to the knowledge that we're doing something good, and if we let go... That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home." He turned to a corner of the street that had a cardboard box sitting on it, and Hobbes followed, glancing back in her direction once. Rose Tyler turned towards home and set off, but she looked back once. Just once. And in that one moment she looked back, the cardboard box was gone. Episode 1:2 "Hey, Rosie!" Mickey greeted Rose at his flat, and they kissed briefly. "Coffee?" "Only if you wash the mug first," she told him, and grinned teasingly. "Can I use your internet?" "Sure. Don't read my emails, though!" She smiled at him, and opened up Google. She first typed in 'Calvin'. Something about a theologist came up, but nothing related. 'Calvin and Hobbes' was next. Some cartoon about a girl and a lion was all that that displayed. She then tried 'Calvin living plastic'. Things about a college for doctors specializing in plastic surgery. Pausing for a moment, she decided to try a bit of a stretch. She carefully tapped in 'Calvin cardboard box'. And that was it. At the top there was a link leading to a page titled 'Calvin Who?' There was a request for people who had seen a person to call a number. She scrolled down, heart in her throat. A photo, blurry, but still recognizable, showed a spiky haired boy clutching a toy tiger. "He could be dangerous," protested Mickey. They were driving to the house belonging to the website man. "He's safe. He's got a wife and kids." "Yeah, who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say." She laughed, as they pulled up at a suburban house. A neighbour was putting out a bin, and he gave Mickey a death glare. Rose walked up to a door, and knocked. A teenage boy answered it, and she smiled at him. "Hi. I've come to see Dirk?" The boy gave her a bored look, and called over his shoulder. "Hey, Dad. It's one of your nutters again." An obvious couch potato came up to the door, and waved. "Hello. You must be Rose? I'm Dirk." Rose gave him an awkward smile. "I'd better tell you now, my boyfriend's in the car just in case you're trying to kill me." Dirk waved at Mickey, who scowled through the glass. "Who is it?" called a woman from inside the house. "Oh, it's something to do with Calvin. She's been reading the website," he told her, and then started waddling through the house. "Please, come through. I'm in the shed." The shed was quite something. There were shelves and shelves of books and binders, and pinboards with information and pictures tacked to them carefully. An old-fashioned computer was balanced on a desk that seemed much too small for its weight. " A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive," he explained, taking down a few binders and flipping through them. "I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean. If you dig deep enough and keep a lively mind, this Calvin keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, legends, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories. No last name, just Calvin. Always Calvin, and sometimes Hobbes. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son. It appears to be an inheritance. That's your Calvin there, isn't it?" He jabbed a pudgy finger at a black and white photograph of Kennedy's cottage. There was a huge crowd gathered next to it, but a head of spiky hair clearly stood out. "Assassination of President Kennedy," Rose murmured, tracing the outline of the crowd. Dirk flipped a few more pages. "1912. The Daniels family of Southampton. And over here..." The same boy, sitting on a volleyball with his tiger next to him was there. "This is a sketch from somewhere in the 1800s," Dirk pointed out. "This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. Calvin is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake and he has two constant companions." Rose stood up, vaguely creeped out. "Who?" "That tiger of his, and Death." You could practically hear the dramatic organ chords in the background. Outside, Mickey noticed a wheelie bin that was constantly thumping its way closer and closer to him. He rolled down the window and peeked out at it. It stopped promptly. He waved a fist in its direction. The bin didn't move. Mickey rolled up the window again, and put some classical music on. The bin began moving towards him again. This time, he opened the car door, and glared at it. It stopped in its tracks, and he began listening to the radio again. The bin began moving again. Mickey slammed open the car door and stormed over to the bin. "One...two...three!" he counted, and flung open the lid. There was nothing inside. He frowned slightly, and made as if to move away. The plastic came away with his hands. It was stretchy, a bit like melted cheese. Mickey tried to pull away, but the melted plastic stuck fast. He was in a tug-of-war with a wheelie bin, and he was losing. The bin growled, and flexed. It bent almost in half, and flicked Mickey into it, swallowing him with a burp. Rose made her way out to the car, sighing dramatically. "You were right, he's a nutter. You win! What are we going to do tonight?" Mickey was obviously plastic, but Rose didn't notice. "P-p-pizza!" he stuttered. "Or Mexican," offered Rose. "Pizza!" declared Plastic Mickey, and he started the car. It bumped unsteadily down the road. This Mickey obviously never took driving classes. Rose was still oblivious to the fact that Mickey was, well, an oversized Ken doll. She was chattering on about herself, not a care in the world. "Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had jobs going in the canteen. Is that it then, dishing out chips. I could do A Levels. I don't know. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault. I only left school because of him. Look where he ended up. What do you think?" P-Mickey (that's what we're calling him now) ignored her, and gripped her arm. "Where did you meet Calvin?" "Oh, that's nice. Wasn't I talking about myself?" "Because it started at the shop, right? Isn't that what happened?" P-Mickey continued. "What are you talking about?" Rose demanded, attempting to wriggle her way out of Mickey's grip. "But you can trust me, sweetheart. Babe," his voice went deep and throaty. "Sugar, babe, sugar. You can tell me anything. Tell me about Calvin and Hobbes and what they're planning, and I can help you, Rose. Because that's all I really want to do, sweetheart, babe, babe, sugar, sweetheart." "Okay, you're freaking me out." "Two anchovy pizzas," a waiter announced. "They're not ours," Rose told him. "I need to find out how much you know!" P-Mickey yelled. "Doesn't anyone want these pizzas?" asked the waiter again. "They're not ours," P-Mickey yelled at the waiter. He was an awfully short waiter. In fact, when the fake Mickey looked down, he noticed... "Oh. Found you!" the Mickey thing declared. Calvin, dressed as a waiter, grinned darkly, and smashed a pizza plate over its head. Complete with anchovy pizza. Hobbes did the same with the matching pizza, and knocked off his head. Calvin caught it, and stared at it for a moment. "That won't stop me," the plastic head told him, and the body formed guns on its hands, before starting to shoot. Rose screamed, and backed away. So did everyone else in the room. Hobbes waved at Rose. "Nice to see you again!" he yelled. "Yeah, you too!" Rose called back, hitting the fire alarm. "Everyone out! Get out now!" "Run!" screamed Calvin, and dashed for the emergency exit, shedding his waiter costume as he did. Hobbes and Rose followed. "So, anything interesting happen with you?" Hobbes asked casually. "Oh, not much," she replied, still dashing. "Met up with my boyfriend, found a conspiracy theorist who thinks you two are aliens, got attacked by a plastic version of the same boyfriend... the usual, you know." They ran through the kitchens, and burst out the back door. There was a locked up exit door, and Rose ran to it. "Open it up!" she called. "Use that thing you used on the cat flap!" "Transmogrifier Gun, and let's go in here instead," Calvin said, walking over to a cardboard box with 'Time Machine' written on it. He opened the top flaps, and jumped inside. His head disappeared from view, and Hobbes followed suit. "There's not enough room for all of us in there!" Rose yelled. The P-Mickey was banging on the back door, and slowly breaking through. She looked back and forth desperately, trying to decide, and, abandoning all logic, poked her head into the box. It was huge. The inside opened up to a vast console room, and Rose was only poking her head into a gap in the ceiling. She stumbled back with a gasp, and walked around the box twice. It was completely ordinary, and, as she picked it up, there was no hole in the bottom leading to an underground cavern. The Plastic Mickey was still working his way through the door, and after two more blasts, made its way through and towards her. Rose screamed and threw caution to the winds. She dived, feet first into the box, and landed on a trampoline directly below the gap in the roof. She bounced twice, and dismounted. Hobbes looked up from a vast array of complex switches and dials. "Nice of you to drop in," he said, grinning. "It's...it's..." she stuttered, gazing around. "Bigger on the inside? Yes, it is!" Calvin cheered, popping up from beneath the console, holding the plastic head of her boyfriend. "Or you could call it smaller on the outside, but, either way, welcome to the Time Machine!" "The plastic thing's still up there," Rose reminded them. "Oh, don't worry," Hobbes dismissed. "The combined forces of Genghis Khan couldn't get through there, and believe me, when we tested that, they certainly tried." "But Time Machine?" Rose asked. "Couldn't you have thought of something slightly more creative? Like, the TARDIS?" "What, to stand for Time And Relative Dimension In Space?" "Yes, exactly." "Well, why would we call it that? That's stupid. We're calling it the TIME MACHINE." "You're alien, aren't you," she said in a small voice, and let out a small sob. "Yes, I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey," Calvin delivered deadpan. "Really?" she asked. "God, no, that would be stupid. I'm human, 112%. And Hobbes is 101% Bengal Tiger." "Mickey's melting," Rose pointed out. Indeed he was. The head was hooked up to a set of wires and switches, and was slowly melting away... "What? No!" Calvin wailed, flicking some switches. "You can't melt! You're our only lead! Hobbes, get a tracking fix on this!" "On it," the tiger responded, hitting a button. "Hold on to your seats." There was a brief jitter, and Mickey's head collapsed into a puddle of plastic. "Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?" Rose asked frantically. "Oooh, I didn't think of that. Quite possibly, yes," Calvin told her. "We're here," Hobbes sing-songed, and strolled to the trampoline. "See you up there." "Come on, then," Calvin agreed. Hobbes jumped onto the trampoline, and bounced three times. On the last jump he sailed up and out the cardboard flaps. Calvin did the same. "You can't go up there!" Rose exclaimed. "It's not safe!" There was no reply. Rose sighed, and jumped up too. "It's... moved," she said slowly, looking around. They were on a bridge. "How can it do that? How can it just move? We were over there, weren't we?" Calvin and Hobbes ignored her, instead choosing to grumble and sulk. "We lost the signal," he informed her. "That's all you care about!" she cried. "What am I going to tell his mother! Mickey's mother! My boyfriend is dead!" "Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey," Calvin began. Hobbes tapped him on the shoulder. "He's not a kid," the tiger told him. "It's because I'm trying to save the life of everyone on Earth, okay?" "Fine!" yelled Rose, throwing up her arms in the air. "What does this plastic have against us, anyway?" "Nothing, in fact," Hobbes explained. "It loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!" "How do we stop it, then?" Calvin withdrew a small vial with blue liquid in it from his pocket. "Anti-plastic." She began to grin. "Seriously?" "Seriously. But first, I've got to find it. Where is it?" "Where is what?" "The transmitter," Hobbes took over. "The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal." "What does it look like?" Rose was getting into it now. "Computer," Calvin directed towards a wristwatch that Rose hadn't noticed he was wearing. The watch beeped for a second, and then buzzed. "Transmitter is round and about the size of two large skyscrapers. It is located in Central London," a woman's calm voice said. "Thanks, computer. So, where could it be?" he began to stride along the bridge, brow wrinkled in thought. "It's big, round, must be invisible." Rose and Hobbes shared a glance. He was standing directly in front of the London Eye. "Are you going to tell him, or should I?" Rose asked Hobbes. He shrugged, grinning with barely concealed mirth. "Hey, Calvin?" Rose called. He turned. Rose jabbed a finger behind him. He looked, and turned back at Rose. "What?" Hobbes pointed. He looked, and turned back. "What am I supposed to be looking at?" Rose and Hobbes stepped up to him, and forcibly turned him around, angling his chin so he could see the massive Ferris Wheel. He stared for a moment before it clicked. "Oh. Brilliant!" he enthused, and ran off. "Is he always like this...?" Rose asked tentatively. Hobbes nodded mutely. "Think of it. Every single plastic thing on Earth. Coming alive," Calvin mused. "The window shop dummies," Hobbes began. "The plastic trucks," Calvin added. "The guns." "The wires." "The cables." "The breast implants," Rose put in cheekily. Calvin and Hobbes gave her an odd look. Then Calvin cleared his throat. "Anyway. The transmitter's around here somewhere. Probably underground." "Somewhere like... this?" Rose climbed down, over a railing, towards a large manhole entrance. Hobbes wiggled his eyebrows. "Ooh. I like you." They climbed down a short ladder into a brick-built area with lots of chains draped about. The went through a stone archway and into a multi-level area. The heat rose in waves around them. Rose wiped off some sweat from her brow. Calvin's watch beeped. "Yes, computer?" he asked. "The Nestene Consciousness. Currently inside the vat. A living plastic creature," the voice said cooly. "I like your watch," Rose remarked offhandedly. "Thanks. Now, I must be off to tip this antiplastic into the Consciousness. Stay here." He set off at a steady pace, down a catwalk, until he was just above the vat of weird flexing plastic stuff. "I'd like to speak with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful treaty!" he bellowed. The stuff in the vat flexed and moaned. "Thank you." "What's he doing?" Rose hissed. Hobbes shrugged, and motioned for her to come with him. Rose, having nothing better to do, followed. "May I have permission to approach?" Calvin asked the vat. It grumbled in affirmative, and he moved forwards, close to the vat. Meanwhile, Rose spotted someone she knew. She dashed towards him. "Oh my god! Mickey! Are you alright?" "That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!" he gasped. Rose wrinkled her nose. "Ugh, you stink. Hobbes, they kept him alive!" "Yeah, that was always a possibility." Mickey eyed her curiously. "Rose, why are you talking to a stuffed tiger?" "I'm not talking to a-" she caught herself. "Oh, yes. Well, he's good company." Down at the vat, Calvin had lunged forwards with the vial of antiplastic, about to pour it in. Hobbes, however, noticed something bad. "Calvin!" A pair of shop dummies seized the back of the boy's striped shirt just as he was about to drop the liquid in. One of them snatched it from his hand. "Oh, c-" Calvin began, but shut up quickly. One rule Calvin and Hobbes had when they were travelling was "No swearing. Not even if a deadly alien monster is about to bite your head off." To make matters worse, a door slid back to reveal the Time Machine. "What's going on?" Rose yelled. "It's the Time Machine! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose; Hobbes! Just leg it now!" "Damn it," Hobbes growled, getting ready to pounce. The two shop dummies made threatening motions towards him, and he froze. Rose quickly grabbed her mobile phone, and dialed her mum. "Mum?" she asked, as the person on the other end picked up. She listened for a moment. "Where are you, mum?" Pause. "No! Just go home! Go home right now!" A longer pause. "Mum! Mum!" She put it back in her pocket, staring in disbelief. "She hung up." Calvin was still struggling as the vat of plastic-type stuff started to swirl and glow. "It's activating! Just get out now, Hobbes!" "The stairs have gone!" he yelled back. They dashed to the Time Machine, and Hobbes fumbled around in a fur pocket. "My key. I lost it." "Again?" Calvin yelled. "I thought you had learnt your lesson after last time!" "I know! I'm sorry!" "No!" Calvin struggled, as he was pushed to the edge of the vat. The Consciousness gurgled. "TIME LORD," it hissed. "No! I'm not a Time Lord! Why does everyone think that? It was just a stupid joke!" Rose stood, fire flashing in her eyes. She thought for a moment, and grabbed Hobbes's arm. She dragged him down a level, and motioned to a chain sitting directly above them. The tiger's eyes lit up, and he interlocked his fingers for her to stand on. "Three...two...one..." she counted, and he launched her up to grab the chain. She kept a firm grip as she spoke. "I've got no A-Levels, no job, no future," she muttered. Hobbes raced up to stand next to her. He grabbed the chain and swung her back for momentum. "But you know what I have got?" she yelled. "Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastic team. I've got the bronze!" And with that, Hobbes pushed her. The chain sailed through the air, and she, in one swift movement, grabbed the anti plastic, and Calvin. She reached the apex of her swing, directly above the Nestene Consciousness vat, and dropped the vial in. Swinging back, Hobbes caught her, and gave her a massive thumbs up. "Run!" Calvin cackled, not at all fazed by his close brush with death. They all ran to the Time Machine, Rose dragging Mickey along, and jumped into the vast dimension. "Woo hoo!" Hobbes cheered, and the box dematerialized. The box reappeared in the park that Rose had originally walked away from Calvin in. Rose bounded out of the cardboard box, gripping Mickey around the waist. "Fat lot of good YOU were," she told him, giving him a smack on the head. "Nestene Consciousness?" Calvin grinned. "Easy." "You would have been dead if it weren't for me," Rose accused them. "Yes, I would. Thank you. Right then, I'll be off, unless, er, I don't know, you could come with us. This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge." Rose considered. That little adventure was actually quite a lot of fun. "Don't go with him," Mickey warned her. "Is it always this dangerous?" Rose asked. "Yep," Hobbes responded, popping the 'p'. "Yeah, I can't. I've er, I've got to go and find my mum and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so... yeah." "Alright, then. See you around," Calvin told her awkwardly. He jumped back into the box. It flickered for a moment, and then a wormhole opened up. The box flew into the wormhole and disappeared. "Give him 5 minutes," Hobbes told her. "He'll realise he forgot me. Again." He settled against the brick wall. "You know, he really does need someone to travel with. He would have died several times over if it weren't for this girl w picked up a while back. Her name was Susie. Nice girl. Calvin didn't like her much... actually, they were arch-rivals. Frenemies, of sorts. But we had to leave her." Rose listened to this with a pensive look on her face. The air flickered, and the cardboard box was back. Calvin poked his head out. "Hey Hobbes! Sorry I left you behind!" he turned to Rose. "Did I also mention that it travels in time?" "That is the worst pickup line ever," Hobbes muttered behind his paw. Calvin pretended not to have heard. Traveling through time and space in a cardboard box, with a boy and his tiger. "Well," mused Rose . "'I doubt my life would be any more interesting at home, so... why not?".She beamed, and kissed Mickey on the cheek. "Thanks." "I didn't do anything!" he protested. "Exactly." Rose dashed towards the box, and took a running leap in. To the future. Category:Episodes